International Seminar – Impacts of invasive ants on ecosystem sustainability and current challenges of management

Date:  26 October 2016 from 12:30 to 13:30 hours

Venue: RISH – Research Building No. 1 (HW 525)

Lecturer:

Dr.Chin-Cheng Yang (Senior Lecturer, RISH Kyoto University)

Abstract:

Biological invasions of ant species are regarded as an emerging threat to 
ecosystem sustainability as they can negatively affect ecosystems in a variety of ways
including displacement of native species, reduction of agricultural productivity and 
alteration of ecosystem processes, etc. To mitigate the impacts of invasive ants, a wide 
variety of control strategies therefore have been developed and applied to reduce the 
population of invasive ants. Despite diverse strategies available, low-toxicity bait is 
arguably among the most efficient method. Nevertheless, recent findings of my lab 
highlight some challenges to the current ant-baiting management scheme, and all of 
which are reported for the first time in the relevant fields. In this seminar session some 
case studies regarding the ecosystem impacts of invasive ants will be addressed first, 
followed by a short overview of rationale of ant bait and discussion of some 
management implications in response to such challenges. How the study of this kind 
fits in humanosphere science also will be elaborated as concluding remark of this seminar.

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